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Woke up early for some reason so grabbed some coffee and turned on the TV...Police in full riot gear busting up the UCLA encampment...must see TV...Tear Gas, pepper balls, stun grenades and batons on skulls...I am cheering like it is a big college game!

No, it's a recognition that we aren't going to have a test, so we have to have an age. If we have a test, a lot of the guys who really want to stay past 65 would have been kicked out by 55. No one wants to open that can of worms. Air guardian has an interesting perspective from his particular operation. But the passenger airliners do not go to outfields once every few years, you simply don't need someone with 30 or 40 years of experience to safely operate. That doesn't mean they can't safely operate, but this argument that you need decades of experience to do this job is just laughable. It's a cookie cutter operation even at some of the "challenging" airfields. Yeah, I don't want to send a 23-year-old brand new Captain off to Guatemala on his own, but no one was arguing for that. In the passenger carriers the biggest threat is a compound emergency that requires very quick decision making. Considering most 65-year-olds have never even had an engine failure, longevity does not contribute to that. A focus on training, and mental quickness is what will separate pilots after about 10 years of experience. Like tac airlifter pointed out, slowing down and asking for clarification alleviates the majority of passenger carrier mishaps. You don't need 30 years of experience to do that. If we really want to start down the cognitive testing route, the 60 plus crowd is not going to like it when they start showing the cognitive decline curve on a chart on CNN every time there's a mishap. At a certain point the people in the back of the plane are going to ask why their pilot is lower on the curve. Yes, initially there will be a threshold set based on the average 65-year-old, but that threshold will be a lower score than the average 55-year-old or 40-year-old or 35-year-old. Once you start quantifying something that costs billions of dollars when it goes wrong, people will ask "why are we settling for less than the best?" No one cares when a few rich people die in a business jet, which is why everybody 65 and older can continue to fly in that career. This is a "problem" that does not need to be solved.

Huge props to the folks at University of Florida. No doubt channeling @M2 when they published this masterpiece.

AI Pilot leaves Air Force for Southwest Airlines

Good. The only airline flying I do is sitting in the back. But I work with enough of the 65+ crowd on a daily basis to know that I don't want them flying me or my family around. Age-related cognitive decline is real. And those who deny it the most are typically the ones most affected by it. Which is not to say you can't be 65+ and still be capable. But for every 10 guys who think they're "running circles around all those young whipper-snappers," 9 of them are full of shit.

Simple, arrest them all as they are breaking laws. But, that’s not happening because academia at large is comprised of the most retarded, weak, and worthless people our society has to offer.

That bio is a word salad of bullshit. When I read this kind of crap, I always picture that bar scene in Good Will Hunting where he’s mocking the Harvard idiots. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

A few years ago just as COVID was kicking off my buddy ordered 100K rounds of .223. A truck delivered it to his house on two pallets. I've been waiting for the ATF to pay him a visit ever since.

The inability of the USAF to fix issues of "specialization" in career fields without feeling the need to create yet another rank structure is simply failed leadership.

The only logical conclusion that one can come to is the agents were looking for a fight. If you think a dude is a gun runner, do you attack him in the place that he would have the most guns? A six year old could see the obvious absurdity. Or do you go get him in a place where at the absolute most he has a pistol hidden? I am not against qualified immunity, but maybe it does need some reform when a police state can violate every shred of common sense and seemingly intentionally escalate a situation to the point that any reasonable person would consider their lives in danger and take self defense actions. If I hear someone trying to kick my door in late at night and yelling 'Police', I'm not going to believe them and I'm going to defend my home. If I hear someone nicely knocking on my door, look outside, see multiple cop cars with their lights on and police in uniform, I will know that I'm not being attacked by a violent gang and I'll put my gun away before I open the door. These ATF agents and the leadership that approved the raid need to be held accountable. They killed a US citizen in his home when he almost certainly thought he was under attack by a band of lawless criminals, which isn't actually that far from the truth.

I am guessing you've never been in a gunfight or you are a world class combat tested shooter. It is one thing to drive nails at the range, quite another once the adrenaline starts to flow...trust me. Countless studies have proven the impact of stress on accuracy in real gunfights. The data on police shootings is very consistent, annual hit-rate averages in large departments such as New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Las Vegas, for example, have typically ranged from 22% to 52% over the decades. A more recent study in Dallas examined 149 real-life OISs recorded over a 15-year period by Dallas (TX) PD. In nearly half of these encounters, officers firing at a single suspect delivered “complete inaccuracy.” That is, they missed the target entirely. At 120 BPM – You begin lose fine motor skills. You are unable to dial a phone or aim a weapon. At this level, gross motor skills are generally unaffected. At 150 BPM – You begin to lose your complex motor skills. Hand-eye coordination and timing deteriorate. Practiced techniques that do not require fine motor skills are still generally available. A 180 BPM and above – At this level you begin to lose rational thought processes. Though trained gross motor skills are not drastically affected. In the 134 cases where researchers were able to calculate the hit rate, “incredibly” it was merely 35%. Another study examined fire rate, as stress increased so did the first rate, by a factor of two. Combining these too factors together, it is usually better to have more rounds. We can also discuss actual stopping power of the .45 versus the 9MM. While the .45 is a larger projectile it is moving at a slower velocity and has less penetration than the 9MM. Hollow-point 9MM rounds typically penetrate deeper and interestingly expand to almost the same size as the .45. I am not hating on the .45, I own several but from personal experience I would rather have more rounds. It really is. The size, portability and maneuverability beat anything else I've tried when using as a vehicle weapon. I was lucky to do a lot of training with the "lads" and did the driving and shooting course...I felt like a complete stooge the first couple runs. The charger allows me to easily control the weapon pulling it from behind the drivers seat, across the front of my body without the muzzle banging into the steering wheel or getting hung up int he headliner. A few of my collection (anyone want a Glock 30, WAY to small for my hand), for size comparison, as you can see folded up it is very small and the stock folds out in one fluid motion, making transition very easy.

I completely understand the distaste for trump, but holy shit, if one votes a second time for this disaster admin, they’re brain dead.

Today, May 3rd in perhaps one of the tone def actions taken by the Biden administration (and that is saying something), the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation of Emory University over...."Anti-Muslim discrimination." Seriously, if you voted for this clown, punch yourself in the gonads, repeatedly. Weeks of campus protests calling for genocide and the destruction of Israel...this is the response.

This thread is a massive disappointment. I thought we were going to compare the USAF BX to the USMC PX where you could still find Hustlers and Harleys on display front n center.

This is what happens when parents didn’t discipline their iPad kids, now they’re college students. Speaking of one retard.

Except those aren't the choices. The old guys I fly with are clearly very experienced and have a wealth of knowledge. But most don't recognize how unsafe they can be, and arrogance is a hazard they are blind to. I'll take the young CA who taxis slow and asks for input over the 65 YO who has done this so many times he doesn't need to double check that last radio call.

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Wasn't really sure where to put this but on 21 April 2024 LtCol (ret) Sam Galloway flew West. Sam was the Navigator on the lead aircraft of the Operation Eagle Claw (Desert One) mission. Post AF he trained almost every MC-130H front ender that went through the FTU at Kirtland until he fully retired in 2011. Sam was a phenomenal instructor and also a genuinely fantastic human being, he'll be missed. Galloway, Sam | Gathering of Eagles Foundation (goefoundation.org)

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/jewish-billionaire-george-soros-pro-palestine-protests-us-campus-university-demonstrations-fundings-money-2532211-2024-04-27 https://www.businesstoday.in/world/us/story/is-george-soros-behind-anti-israel-pro-palestine-protests-in-columbia-other-us-universities-heres-what-we-know-so-far-427241-2024-04-28 https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/2024/04/26/662bf96a46163f789c8b457f.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-israel-protests-nationwide-fueled-183612850.html

I was discussing this the other day, after seeing what the USN pulled off almost overnight. AF buy a slew of the same darn Beechcraft and get on it NOW. All those turboprops can be delivered in 3-4 years. Guys need real flying and learning in the real world and all the things one learns by doing that. T-6 onward to King Air onward to "Heavy Whatever" is WORLDS better than T-6 to F it, we do it live. Kudos to the USN boys. AF...take notes and execute on a T-1 replacement.

My Bud went to the T-1 retirement event they had at RND a few weeks ago. He said that they (ATC Brass) told the crowd the T-7 was still a few years away, like 2030ish! And that in the future the AF was looking at UPT being T-6 to T-7 for all pilots, like the old T-37 to T-38 syllabus of yore. That was from the mouths of the AETC Commanders. I’m sure some of you guys attended as well.

I already said I’m against the income tax, you don’t have to sell me on it.

How about a win-win and just abolish both? Obviously that would also entail firing everyone that currently works for both organizations with a life-long ban of those individuals ever working for the federal government again. The country would be a better place. Send the Capts to a spring break destination of their choice for the entire month of March and watch retention skyrocket and have zero loss of learning.

Meh, the 401k is going to be taxed at a 96.9% rate by the time I retire. Might as well spend more money now on shit that is way more useful and life enriching - not stressing over not quite making a max. Dying with millions in the bank isn’t my jam…but leaving 5 airplanes and an undisclosed amount of guns and knives to my kids is!

FSU didn't fuck around either, I love living in the free state of Florida!

They are the same person. They've never been spotted in the same room together.

First she will be hired into the next Democrat elected administration. FIFY They live in Alvin Bragg's district. The first round that was arrested was released, charged dropped and the arrest expunged form their records. I disagree on the retarded part...this is purposeful and has been for some time. Conservatives turned a blind eye as liberals took over Universities. Remember, those who can..do....those who can't teach. When they chant "I am Hamas" and openly call for a Jewish Genocide. NYPD release video showing professional 'protest consultant' at Columbia University

Homeboy in the back in his little crop top number should wear that outfit into Rafah and see how far he gets.

I think at this point it's safe to say that all sides are paranoid beyond reason. Speaker Johnson made a really interesting comment in an interview, saying that most of the loudest voices against the Ukraine bill had not yet been in the scif to receive a single classified briefing. Yeah yeah, I know, we can't trust the surveillance State. But anybody who says that is just being reflexively stupid. You can't trust anything outright, but if you really believe that us intelligence is corrupted so thoroughly that it produces no viable information, then you were just as guilty of living in an alternate reality as those who claim the absolute righteousness of funding the Ukraine fight. I am very open to the counter arguments for supporting Ukraine at this point. But I am not at all interested in hearing it from someone who has gone out of their way to avoid briefings that would give them a full picture. As to your point about the funding going to defense contractors, that was under the impression that the incredible corruption in Ukraine, which I do believe exists, was such that we could not risk sending them money outright to trust they would use it appropriately. Sending the munitions directly will obviously not completely eliminate corruption, but it's a hell of a lot harder to launder 155 mm shells than it is a pallet of cash.

Forget the extra two years being shot down. Didn’t anyone see the “25 hour cockpit voice recorder” requirement within the bill statement. No one will ever get close to the current 65 year max. Good luck to ya’ll.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/major-columbia-protest-organizers-have-ties-to-left-wing-donors/ar-AA1nuWZW Here’s a very surface level snapshot. Do some digging/reading and you’ll see this is all funded/organized by similar actors as BLM in 2020. Same big pic goals with a different label. First learn who CUAD is and what groups are under its “umbrella,” then learn where those various groups get their funding from.

It used to be that people would run away but with drugs and emboldened criminals (not organized pararmilitary), I don't want to rely on brandishing a weapons to protect my family. 30+ years ago I did brandish a weapon (sort of), that deterred someone...kind of a funny story. I was home on leave and went shooting with a buddy. I did not have a CCW and so I had my guns unloaded and packed in a bag on the passanger's side floor of one of my pickup truck. I was on the highway in the right lane with my cruise control on when a car came racing up the on-ramp next to me. There were several cars in the left lane so I could not move over and the on-ramp had a yield sign so I just maintained my pace. The on-ramp car was really in a hurry and I guess he thought I should yield to him. Once he got on the highway he came racing up behind me, there were a couple of guys in the car and they were honking and waving their arms in the air. He became increasingly more aggressive so I reached over to the gun bag and the first weapon I put my hand on was a .44 Magnum revolver, I dropped a speed loader in and laid the gun on my lap. The dude followed me off the highway and I could see I was going to get stuck at a traffic light so I move the left lane. The dude pulled right up to me screaming and got out of his car, my window was down because the AC was out and in a flash he was trying to come through the passenger side window screaming at me. In one motion I pulled the .44 up, pulled the hammer back and forcefully poked him in the forehead with the end of the barrel. I was .69 seconds away from canoeing the dude and he just froze, hands inside my truck with the gun between his eyes...he stopped screaming and slowly backed out with his hands up. I will never forgot the look on his face and I will never forget seeing a red circle in the middle of his forehead, I poked him so hard it left a little red ring. The light changed green and I never saw the dude again.

26 hours at 120 decibels. That sounds absolutely horrible. The things dudes do to build time for the airlines.

The real question… does the T-54 have a “god box”?

No, they haven’t but that doesn’t stop them from trying when the alternative powers are not friendly. I think things would have been much different had the UK and USA had not been on good terms post WWII. During the Civil War, England recognized the Confederacy’s “Belligerent Status,” stopping short of recognizing the sovereignty of the Confederacy. The Confederacy had envoys on British Naval vessels, Ala the Trent Affair. At risk were lucrative trade deals etc, but you could also argue that fomenting conflict between the two sides by respecting a belligerent status and remaining neutral was sacrosanct endorsement that either the South could win or a stalemate could emerge. Otherwise they would have supported the North. Neutrality equates to not caring about a return to the Status Quo - Ante. Applying a realist view to this, smart on the part of England because a divided America would have reduced the overall power balance by shifting it two nations instead of one. Thus increasing or safeguarding its status as the leading world power at the time ala Pax Brittanaca. Also we are not an empire. IMHO. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What is the alternative? Do we leave the Pacific except for remaining in Guam? What position does that put our allies in the Pacific in vis a vis an ever growing China? If we leave the Pacific we will resign our status as a Global Super Power that has sustained the current International Order and acknowledge a bipolar or multipolar world. Is it in our nations best interest to do so? In Ukraine, do we give up and allow Russia to take it? If we did nothing at the start isn’t that akin to Neville Chamberlain and Hitler? I’d argue each nation with interests has its own agency in the matter and is acting in accordance with what it believes to be its own best interests. John Mearsheimer 101. It’s a zero sum game — it’s all about power and security. Both domestically and internationally. You could make an argument that we are already at a low level of or run up to Word War currently with Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas, Iran and Israel and the Houthis. The only powder keg that hasn’t kicked off yet is in the Pacific. But, it could easily. Imagine a scenario like the P-3 colliding with a PLA aircraft in today’s geopolitical landscape. I think the best case scenario is a rapid realization that we have deliberately set up our military to be sized for a war in one theater and deterring in another. We did that because we were still the leading superpower. We are facing a challenge that calls into question our ability to win with our current force structure given the problems around the world. Whether our politicians are marching us steadily towards wider conflict isn’t as important as whether or not our politicians are equipping us to win that conflict and if we will have the political will to see that conflict through. If we are successful we delay or defeat the pattern of Great Powers not remaining Great Powers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hear you. There is a very pro 2A judge that keeps fighting back against the restrictions and it seems as though magazine round limits and ARs might be back on the table in the future. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Wait, who put who at risk? The cops are always going to escalate. That's what they're paid for. All three of those guys have killed people. They didn't run because they thought they were getting busted for a minor drug charge. Don't be so naive.

The real reason I was on this thread... 🤣🤣

Do you thing those being chased simply shoplifted at a Walmart? People don't get pursued like that unless they've committed a serious crime and are a threat to society. It was proportional to the situation. Had your family member been their victim, or would be a victim after the police let them get away, you'd feel a lot different about it! The stupid ones are those that flee, not the cops chasing them! It's their decision to endanger everyone on the road, not the police's.

I’ll take “Phrasing that is blessedly not part of my vernacular” for $800, Alex

What a name! Kinda like Bigus Dickus.

Dibs Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

I have a Crossbreed Supertuck IWB. Carry just behind hip. I can wear this thing for 12 hrs, including siting, driving, etc. and almost forget it’s there. Make sure you have a real gun belt to go with it.

This would be a good idea. I thought my TC-12 training was a good feeder for the Herk. It would give the student a more complex airplane with more than one engine to worry about. At this point anything is better than the ridiculous idea of T-6s straight to whatever heavy the student tracks. Would probably be fairly cheap operating cost wise too. All those are reasons why the AF would most likely never go for it.

"The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit" If you can't trust these agencies to prop up your narrative, who can you trust? 🤣

You apparently haven't been paying attention to what's actually happening in China. They have none of these advantages anymore. The one thing they had going for them was being the world's workshop...but that was economics planned by central committee. It came at many costs, one of them being technological innovation, and it's over. They are in the process of a demographic collapse thanks to 40 years of the one child policy. Even if they implemented a national breeding campaign, it would take 30-40 years for them to reap the economic benefits...and they haven't. The wage 'advantage' is no more. Mexican labor is cheaper by almost three times now. Mexican production quality is ALSO better. China may be able to make things, but they can't do it cheaply anymore (their middle class wages have skyrocketed) and they can't produce anything of high quality. What's more, they never had a national unity advantage. Everything their government does it to control their people, not dominate the world. We don't have to do anything to beat the Chinese economically besides wait. Militarily, all we'd have to do is close the Strait of Malacca and watch them starve in the dark, as they import so much food and energy. Oh-by-the-way guess what kind of weapons we just leant to the Australians in Darwin: Cruise missiles that can hit ships in the strait of malacca from over the horizon. As for national debt? You think we're hurting? Go google Chinese hyper financialization. The dollar may or may not remain the reserve currency, but the Yuan will NOT be taking it's place in our lifetime. Yes, the Chinese are great at long term intellectual planning, but NONE of their execution has followed any of that planning. They are screwed and all we have to do is not save them. Multiple historians, demographers, and geopolitical analysts have reached the above conclusions. Ray Dalio would be one exception, but reading his work it's clear his love of china is underpinned by strong emotional ties that clearly color his analysis. But even he doesn't paint a very rosy picture for them, specifically because of their economics and debt. Don't listen to the rhetoric, look at the details and facts.